Analogue to Digital and Playback

[anthonyL]

First post, somewhat Linux newbie.

Using Linux Kubuntu 18.04 LTS, Audacity 2.2.1

A number of issues:

I'm converting all my Analogue to Digital, Reel to Reel, Cassettes and Vinyl. Not after studio quality and thus far have captured everything in Audacity (Win10 version) using a "C-Media Electronics, Inc. Storm HP-USB500 5.1 Headset" external USB sound card connected to the amplifier.

I'm labelling and outputting the tracks in Linux as mp3 but sometimes the tracks don't show up in the playback software and some playback software does not recognise my USB sound card.

For instance I quite like the interface of Rhythmbox but I cannot get it to play back via the Sound card.
An old friend, VLC doesn't always show the Artist but can select the playback device.
Clementine doesn't always show the Artist, can select USB card but it ignores and still plays from internal speakers

Recommendations for a nice interface that works, or how to get Rhythmbox to work without going through complex configurations as I will want to easily switch from internal to external.

Additionally I'm using Audacity Click removal as I see the spikes whilst labelling and on the whole that is tolerable but some LPs are noisy. I've tried washing them (white vinegar/Soda crystals/distilled water and a toothbrush) but it feels as if the noise is inbuilt into the vinyl. Audacity doesn't seem well suited to cleaning these up. I'm going to get to tapes with hiss, tapes used to record LPs so a double-whammy.

Any other tips and suggestions welcomed.

[Michael Willis]

Audacity doesn't seem well suited to cleaning these up.

Noise Repellent is probably the best thing available to do this on Linux.

[anthonyL]

Audacity doesn't seem well suited to cleaning these up.

Noise Repellent is probably the best thing available to do this on Linux.

I'm keen to try this but, as mentioned I'm somewhat unfamiliar with Linux/Audacity etc, and am struggling.

I have download the binary noise-repellent-0.1.5-linux-amd64.zip from https://github.com/lucianodato/noise-repellent/releases and extracted giving me:

Code: Select all

/Downloads/nrepel.lv2$ ls
manifest.ttl  nrepel.so  nrepel.ttl

I've tried putting nrepel.so in various places and tried creating a folder lv2 in various places eg /usr/share/audacity/plug-ins/

I currently have nrepel.so showing in Plugin manager under /usr/lib/ladspa as well as an entry showing an https: address to the github site even though I've deleted everything associated with nrepel under the /usr/lib/ladspa folder.

Sorry if this all a bit basic to you - to me the instructions are not explicit and I don't (yet) possess the pre-required knowledge so I'm going around in circles.

Where do I put what in Ubuntu 18.04 for Noise Repellent to work?

[anthonyL]

Hello anthonyL,

EasyTag, is software for Linux it is good for editing the mp3 info, and it can help where info does not show, or info is not in an order you want it. I use this for mp3.

The tags are there and produced by Audacity as far as I can see and Rhythmbox sees them all. I'd be happy at that except Rhythmbox doesn't see my external USB sound card.

Another way, and for solving all the different issues is to make a connection on the stereo pre-amplifier pcb, make the hole in case and add pre-amplifier connection to the jack female fitted in hole of case, then just use the cable from this directly to Line-in of desktop, they use the oscilloscope and to check/ fix the signal wave, it sends the signal not the volume, volume adjustment on stereo it is not affecting volume of the input to line in at all, volume of the input streaming is controlled by the pc settings etc. It makes good signal stream to record on pc at home.

That's all beyond my paygrade

I'd prefer a suggestion for a player that has all the functionality built in and working, ie it will see the tags and let me change the output device.

[anthonyL]

Sorry if this all a bit basic to you - to me the instructions are not explicit and I don't (yet) possess the pre-required knowledge so I'm going around in circles.

Where do I put what in Ubuntu 18.04 for Noise Repellent to work?

Hello,

from here - https://snapcraft.io/install/noise-repellent/ubuntu

to install Noise Repellent in Ubuntu 18.04 open you terminal and copy/paste (or type) this -

Code: Select all

sudo snap install noise-repellent --edge

press the enter key
type in you password when asked and then press enter key

once install has completed, type

Code: Select all

exit

then press enter key, to close your terminal.

sudo snap install noise-repellent --edge
error: The publisher of snap "noise-repellent" has indicated that they do not consider this
revision to be of production quality and that it is only meant for development or testing at
this point. As a consequence, this snap will not refresh automatically and may perform
arbitrary system changes outside of the security sandbox which snaps are generally confined
to, which may put your system at risk.

I did not proceed any further.

[milo]

I have download the binary noise-repellent-0.1.5-linux-amd64.zip from https://github.com/lucianodato/noise-repellent/releases and extracted giving me:

Code: Select all

/Downloads/nrepel.lv2$ ls
manifest.ttl  nrepel.so  nrepel.ttl

I've tried putting nrepel.so in various places and tried creating a folder lv2 in various places eg /usr/share/audacity/plug-ins/

I currently have nrepel.so showing in Plugin manager under /usr/lib/ladspa as well as an entry showing an https: address to the github site even though I've deleted everything associated with nrepel under the /usr/lib/ladspa folder.

Sorry if this all a bit basic to you - to me the instructions are not explicit and I don't (yet) possess the pre-required knowledge so I'm going around in circles.

Where do I put what in Ubuntu 18.04 for Noise Repellent to work?

To install an lv2 you just copy the entire nrepel.lv2 folder to "/usr/lib/lv2/".

Code: Select all

$ sudo cp Downloads/nrepel.lv2 /usr/lib/lv2/nrepel.lv2
$ ls /usr/lib/lv2
nrepel.lv2

Alternatively, you can put it to /home/$username/.lv2/ if you only want your user account to have access to it.

You don't have to open the nrepel.lv2 folder or worry about its contents.

I did a project like this years ago, and I wish I had had access to noise repellent back then. Good luck!

[milkii]

I would highly recommend using FLAC (lossless) rather than MP3 (lossy) for such an archival job.

If anyone needs to use lossy files (for streaming, putting content on a mobile phone, etc.), Opus would be the recommended format these days.

[anthonyL]

I have download the binary noise-repellent-0.1.5-linux-amd64.zip from https://github.com/lucianodato/noise-repellent/releases and extracted giving me:

Code: Select all

/Downloads/nrepel.lv2$ ls
manifest.ttl  nrepel.so  nrepel.ttl

I've tried putting nrepel.so in various places and tried creating a folder lv2 in various places eg /usr/share/audacity/plug-ins/

I currently have nrepel.so showing in Plugin manager under /usr/lib/ladspa as well as an entry showing an https: address to the github site even though I've deleted everything associated with nrepel under the /usr/lib/ladspa folder.

Sorry if this all a bit basic to you - to me the instructions are not explicit and I don't (yet) possess the pre-required knowledge so I'm going around in circles.

Where do I put what in Ubuntu 18.04 for Noise Repellent to work?

To install an lv2 you just copy the entire nrepel.lv2 folder to "/usr/lib/lv2/".

Code: Select all

$ sudo cp Downloads/nrepel.lv2 /usr/lib/lv2/nrepel.lv2
$ ls /usr/lib/lv2
nrepel.lv2

Alternatively, you can put it to /home/$username/.lv2/ if you only want your user account to have access to it.

You don't have to open the nrepel.lv2 folder or worry about its contents.

I did a project like this years ago, and I wish I had had access to noise repellent back then. Good luck!

Thank you and I have it now installed in /usr/lib/lv2/nrepel.lv2.

1) Am I correct there is no click removal? Or have I yet to learn the settings? Clicks aren't mentioned in the guide.

2) I still have an nrepel showing in Plugins showing location as /usr/lib/ladspa/nrepel.so even though there is no such file now in that folder. It's as if the library location has not been refreshed when I removed the file.

3) Plugins shows the working version as Name = Noise repellent Location = https://github.com/lucianodato/noise-repellent which appears to come from the manifest.ttl file - is this as you would expect?

[anthonyL]

2) I still have an nrepel showing in Plugins showing location as /usr/lib/ladspa/nrepel.so even though there is no such file now in that folder. It's as if the library location has not been refreshed when I removed the file.

To display hidden files inside a folder (directory), open directory then -

Hold Ctrl key and press h key

To hide them again repeat - Hold Ctrl and press h key

I'm using Dolphin (alt+) and Kfind but nonetheless there are no hidden nrepel.* files under /usr/lib

[anthonyL]

you could to try under the full path as you have specified.
I don't know what is the equivalent for that distro, use something like FSearch it will show all the locations of the files.

Yes the search was down from /usr/lib and not just that folder.
But even then there is no nrepel.so in the /usr/lib/ladspa/ folder, hidden or otherwise, I just did an extra search just in case there was something lurking anywhere else.

kfind allows a search including all folders below and include hidden files.

[anthonyL]

So it's not hiding there.
It can be memory maybe, have you tried log out and login again, or reboot, then check if it is refreshed, or still having the issue ?

Indeed I have and more than once, it is as if a library path is stuck somewhere in cache. It's not doing any harm and I've marked it as disabled anyway, but one day I hope to learn (as part of Linux) what's gone wrong.

[anthonyL]

1) Am I correct there is no click removal? Or have I yet to learn the settings? Clicks aren't mentioned in the guide.

I found this tutorial if it might help with the click removal https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/tut ... iques.html

Yes I've already been going through Click Removal paying some attention to that. In fact what I find seems to work is to look for the spikes in Audacity and just treat each one individually. Some LP's have none or just a couple. I'd just hoped that noise-repellent would be a "one off solution". What does also look promising is Gtk Wave Cleaner (gwc) but it adds to the process as I now have to output from Audacity to .wav then run the cleaner. But it might be worth it for the few LPs I know will give me problems.

[anthonyL]

I would highly recommend using FLAC (lossless) rather than MP3 (lossy) for such an archival job.

If anyone needs to use lossy files (for streaming, putting content on a mobile phone, etc.), Opus would be the recommended format these days.

I'm keeping the "raw" Audacity projects so if I find I want a better quality I'll re-output them. Once I sort out my preferred player I'll listen to them via my speakers and amp rather than headphones and that will be the critical factor.

[anthonyL]

Yes I've already been going through Click Removal paying some attention to that. In fact what I find seems to work is to look for the spikes in Audacity and just treat each one individually. Some LP's have none or just a couple. I'd just hoped that noise-repellent would be a "one off solution". What does also look promising is Gtk Wave Cleaner (gwc) but it adds to the process as I now have to output from Audacity to .wav then run the cleaner. But it might be worth it for the few LPs I know will give me problems.

.. but you know you want to listen to the music to do each one individually and the extra steps with Gtk Wave Cleaner ,
plus also later you can recall in your memory where the pops and clicks were and talk to your friends or online listeners, about the difficulty with each song (or some particular favourite ones) and how it was for the results needed, to be achieved.
It will be worth it, the old vinyl ones it has different sound, nice, especially with the bass being real, it can be a good discussion for memories with the music, your past memories and the new made memories.

I've not listened to some of the music for maybe 40+yrs and it is amazing how much memory they bring back, including what track is next and when the bad click is going to arrive, despite cleaning the LP to death. I'm convinced it's in the pressing sometimes. Nonetheless when I told youngest granddaughter what I was doing she said "Why?. It's all likely available on Spotify". Kids eh!

Thanks also for your comment about libraries - I'll expect there's a log file somewhere with the error but at my current paygrade I'll not risk making things worse for the moment. Bookmarked for a future occasion.

[anthonyL]

The most important thing is you care about the music enough to want to do this, you are learning new skills in music to achieve it too.

Thanks. My wife isn't keen on my music and as the only place the Hi-Fi could reside was in the lounge it meant it wasn't played. I now have a study which has room for an amplifier and modest speakers (my home-built corner horn speakers haven't been used for 40+ yrs either and are too big) so I'm hoping to relax here more often. I'm not finding Linux relaxing!! However whilst listening to The Everly Bros last night I looked more in System Sound settings and have found a combination that plays through the internal speakers or the the USB when connected, so my Rhythmbox is issue is resolved and of course I then will have a good line out to the amplifier. The headphones sound so much better through the USB sound card.

Well, pressing on - just two LPs to go for my 'pop' collection which is about 15% done in just over a week. Classical, Jazz, Classic Guitar awaiting. Then the 100 or so cassettes! Need to be on top of noise reduction by then.

I must thank you too for your help.